Archive for the ‘Rudi Selig’ Category

Rudi Selig is at 23 one of the youngest riders in the squad of our Russian pro team Katusha.
The talented young German sprinter is in his first season on the pro scene and has the potential to be in there with the men who matter on his Ultimate CF SLX.
Here’s Rudi’s look back at the Eneco Tour 2012.

Hi there cycling fans,
We’ve been bombing round Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg for a week now. Today was the final stage with the famous “Wall of Geraardsbergen” as the climb to the finish.
This was my first appearance at the Eneco Tour and I’m already looking forward to the next one! I hadn’t had that same felling of joy since finishing Paris-Roubaix. Now that really does mean something!

As is always the case in bike crazy Belgium, the spectators turned out in their droves to urge us on! This is a great feeling when you are virtually shouted up the climbs. You do really get goose pimples.
The sprint finishes we were setting up for Alexander Kristoff were extremely nervous and even made me almost fill my pants!

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As if it were a matter of life and death everybody flew in to the corners as if it was the last one before the line!
At the start you are a bit scared, but at some point you don’t care anymore and you get tunnel vision. And you really need that in events like this, because if you start getting over cautious you’ve had it. It’s all like a game; however you don’t have 3 lives to play with.

For me a completely new experience was the 6.6 km tunnel, which we rode through on stage 5. It was very loud, dark and fast (65 km/h). You had to rely on the rider in front of knowing what he was doing. On stage 4 we were sprinting along a busy road in Belgium which had lots of shop windows on either side. The amazing thing was that these shop windows were filled not with groceries or other products, but women! To be precise prostitutes, who were sitting on high stools and were extremely scantily clad.
It didn’t take long until the race was “neutralized” and all the riders took time out to look at the women. It was perhaps instinct, but there wasn’t a single crash although nobody was looking where he was going!

My next big race is in my home country Germany on 19 August with the Hamburg Cyclassics event. It’s in Hamburg that I’ll meet Ete again!
Stay healthy and happy riding!
Rudi

Last week I was with Erik Zabel in Berlin to promote the Berlin Velothon. It was great fun and at the same time fascinating how many riders showed up despite the bad weather at Templehof airport.
Cycling is booming. The 13000 riders who took part in last year’s Berlin Velothon are clear evidence of that. I was able to demonstrate to many spectators just how durable the Canyon Ultimate CF SLX road bike is or needs to be!
Erik Zabel would say, “Rudi, make sure the bikes stay in one piece”.

Then on Tuesday it was time for the Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn event, one of just a few German classic events on the racing calendar. The event wasn’t for me as there were too many hills in it!
Nevertheless, we were able to take 6th place with Alexander Kristoff, which saved the day really.
Yesterday, as always after a race, I had the day off and was finally able to go for a ride on my new Grand Canyon AL 9.9 SL.
I was mega impressed by this bike and am already looking forward to the winter when I can push the bike to its limits!
Last year I rode a lot on a cyclo-cross bike together with training partners, who all have cyclo-cross bikes. These bikes have the edge in terms of speed, but they offer little in the way of maneuverability and comfort.
The MTB weighs 3 kg more, is perfect for training and above all in the woods on steep descents nobody will be able to put one over on me and on the flat I can easily keep up with the wide rims. We shall see how I go!

My preparations for my next highlight are already underway. Neuseen Classics and the Tour of Bavaria. This is how things normally pan out: Standard training on the road and then 30-40minutes of stretching and aerobics when you get home.

Torso strength is extremely important in cycling so that the rider gets his maximum power down onto the pedals without wasting energy due to shaking his upper body from side to side.
Even after a few days I can already feel the improvement in the transmission of power when riding uphill. I can therefore strongly recommend this type of training!
This also helped me get rid of my knee problems which I have been battling with since my crash at the Scheldeprijs at the start of April.